Indian authorities imprison Human Rights Activist Fr Stan Swamy SJ

Fr Stan Swamy SJ has devoted his life advocating for vulnerable people in India. He has now been arrested by India authorities, being accused of being a Maoist terrorists. These charges are believed by many to be baseless.

By ACN International

Fr. Stan Swamy SJ. (Credit: BBC)

83 year-old Indian priest, Fr Stan Swamy SJ, has been accused of being a Maoist terrorist by Indian authorities in what many human rights organizations consider a completely baseless set of charges alongside an outrageous failure of juridical and political decency. He is now incarcerated in a Mumbai jail after his arrest last week.

The nature of Fr Swamy’s arrest has been called into question by many Catholic agencies and human rights observers. Firstly, there was no warrant issued for his arrest. Secondly, Fr Swamy asked the arresting officers if he could be interrogated online, rather than being whisked away to jail, as the Covid pandemic is raging across India and he suffers from Parkinson’s disease. His plea was refused by police.

Fr. Swamy has been at the forefront of trying to protect India’s indigenous Adivasi people, whose lands are under constant attack by authorities in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. Here, mining interests continue to wreak humanitarian and ecological devastation. The battle of the Adivasis against mining corporates is very much a David and Goliath scenario and is a cause to which Fr. Swamy has dedicated much of his ministry. Millions of people will now likely be displaced from their ancestral homelands by corporate and political interests seeking to establish heavy industry to this region that will cause irreparable harm to the local environment and the way of life the regions indigenous people.

Protests for the release of Fr Stan Swamy. (Credit: BBC)

Across India, thousands of Catholic nuns and priests have marched in protest against Fr Swamy’s arrest, together with his supporters, students, activists and people who know him as a truly decent man…

Fr Swamy’s arrest is a tragedy not just for India’s indigenous people but for everyone who believes in Christian truth and justice. He has been an activist priest whose mission is to fight for a kingdom of justice on earth for the poor and oppressed and he has been a great inspiration to Catholics and human rights advocates across Tamil Nadu, where ACN funds several seminaries. Please keep him – and the cause of his vital ministry – in your prayers.